Local ornaments of the 3rd and 4th century AD in south-east Estonia and north Latvia are inherent to the region and mostly found from there. In this paper, intraregional interaction, the main routes of communication, and whether different sub-regions were present is studied on the basis of the distribution of local ornaments. Methods from network science are adopted to achieve this. Based on the results of chi-squared similarity metric and degree centrality measure, sub-regions where different types of local ornaments were preferred stand out. This preference could suggest the expressions of some regional ideas. Items in local style could have, more or less intentionally, marked the similarities within the region, setting it apart from other regions. Central areas could have been the ones with higher degree centrality values, whereas these areas could be interpreted to form the main axis of communication which maintained similarities between those sites. The main interaction routes were water ways which connected distant areas and maintained unity within sub-regions. Being situated near bigger water routes is what determined the importance of areas. This study shows the patterns of interaction between, and the formation and expression of, culturally uniform sub-groups based on local ornaments of the 3rd and 4th centuries found from south-east Estonian and north Latvian stone cemeteries.
Banytė-Rowell, R. 2001. Vakarų Lietuvos kapinynų su akmenų vainikais kultūrinė sritis III a. –
V a. pradžioje. (Unpublished PhD thesis.) Vilnius University.
Banytė-Rowell, R. 2011. Žvilių ir Šarkų kapinynų romėniškojo laikotarpio kapų chronologinės fazės. – LA, 37, 25–86.
Banytė-Rowell, R. & Bitner-Wróblewska, A. 2005. From Aestii to Esti. Connections between the Western Lithuanian Group and the area of distribution of tarand-graves. – Interarchaeologia, 1, 105–120.
Bitner-Wróblewska, A. 2010. North-eastern Poland in first centuries AD – a world apart. – Worlds Apart? Contacts across the Baltic Sea in the Iron Age. Eds U. Lund Hansen & A. Bitner-Wróblewska. Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab, Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne, København, Warszawa, 141–184.
Bitner-Wróblewska, A. & Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz, A. 2018. Introduction. – The Past Societies. Polish Lands from the First Evidence of Human Presence to the Early Middle Ages,
vol. 4: 500 BC – 500 AD. Eds P. Urbańczyk & A. Rzeszotarska-Nowakiewicz. The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 258–262.
Bliujienė, A. 2009. Balt round pendants – transformations between the Nemunas and Daugava Rivers during the Roman Period. – Bałtowe i ich sąsiedzi. Marian Kaczyński in memoriam. Eds A. Bitner-Wróblewska & G. Iwanowska. (Seminarium Bałtyjskie, II.) Państwowe Muzeum Archeologiczne, Warszawa, 245–260.
Brandes, U., Robins, G., McCranie, A. & Wasserman, S. 2013. What is network science? – Network Science, 1: 1, 1–15.
https://doi.org/10.1017/nws.2013.2
Brughmans, T., Collar, A. & Coward, F. (eds). 2016. The Connected Past: Challenges to Network Studies in Archaeology and History. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Collar, A., Coward, F., Brughmans, T. & Mills, B. (eds). 2015. The connected past: Critical and innovative approaches to networks in archaeology. – A special issue of the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 22: 1.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-014-9235-6
Ekengren, F. 2013. Contextualizing grave goods: theoretical perspectives and methodological implications. – The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Death and Burial. Eds S. Tarlow &
L. Nilsson Stutz. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 173–192.
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569069.013.0010
Fruchterman, T. M. J. & Reingold, E. M. 1991. Graph drawing by force-directed placement. – Software: Practice and Experience, 21(11), 1129–1164.
https://doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380211102
Habiba, Athenstädt, J. C., Mills, B. J. & Brandes, U. 2018. Social networks and similarity of site assemblages. – JAS, 92, 63–72.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2017.11.002
Hauptmann, T. 1998. Studien zu den Dreisprossenfibeln. – 100 Jahre Fibelformen nach Oscar Almgren: Internationale Arbeitstagung 25.–28.05.1997, Kleinmachnow, Land Brandenburg. Ed.
J. Kunow. (Forschungen zur Archäologie im Land Brandenburg.) Wünsdorf, 159–173.
Kivirüüt, A. & Olli, M. 2016. Archaeological research on Aakre Kivivare tarand-grave. – AVE, 2015, 59−70.
Knappet, C. (ed.). 2013. Network Analysis in Archaeology. New Approaches to Regional Interaction. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Lang, V. 2007. The Bronze and Early Iron Ages in Estonia. (EA, 3.) Tartu University Press, Tartu.
https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_423939
Lang, V. & Kriiska, A. 2001. Eesti esiaja periodiseering ja kronoloogia. – EJA, 5: 2, 83–109.
Laul 1982 in EE = Jaanits, L., Laul, S., Lõugas, V. & Tõnisson, E. Eesti esiajalugu. Eesti Raamat, Tallinn.
Laul, S. 2001. Rauaaja kultuuri kujunemine Eesti kaguosas (500 e.Kr – 500 p.Kr). (MT, 9. Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi kirjad, 7.) Ajaloo Instituut, Tallinn.
Michelbertas, M. 1986. Senasis geležies amžius Lietuvoje. I–IV amžius. Mokslas, Vilnius.
Moora, H. 1929. Die Eisenzeit in Lettland bis etwa 500 n. Chr., I. Teil: Die Funde. (Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi Toimetused, XXV.) Õpetatud Eesti Selts, Tartu.
Moora, H. 1933. Nõo kih. Meeri vl. Jaagupi tl. maal oleva kivikalme kaevamistest 26. maist kuni 11. juunini 1933. a. (Unpublished excavations report.) Copy of the manuscript in the archive of Department of Archaeology at the University of Tartu.
Moora, H. 1938. Die Eisenzeit in Lettland bis etwa 500 n. Chr., II. Teil: Analyse. (Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi Toimetused, XXIX.) Õpetatud Eesti Selts, Tartu.
Olli, M. & Kivirüüt, A. 2017. Individual and collective burial places: An analysis of the Viimsi tarand graves of northern Estonia. – Kannike, A. & Västrik, E.-H. (eds). Body, Personhood and Privacy: Perspectives on Cultural Other and Human Experience. (Approaches to Culture Theory, 7.) University of Tartu Press, 271−292.
Olli, M. & Roxburgh, M. A. 2018. Disc brooches of the Roman Iron Age from the tarand cemeteries of Estonia and north Latvia. – LA, 44, 43–74.
Opsahl, T., Agneessens, F. & Skvoretz, J. 2010. Node centrality in weighted networks: Generalizing degree and shortest paths. – Social Networks, 32: 3, 245–251.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2010.03.006
Östborn, P. & Gerding, H. 2014. Network analysis of archaeological data: A systematic approach. – JAS, 46, 75–88.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.03.015
Peeples, M. A. 2017. Network Science and Statistical Techniques for Dealing with Uncertainties in Archaeological Datasets. Available: http://www.mattpeeples.net/netstats.html
Peeples, M. A. & Roberts, J. M. 2013. To binarize or not to binarize: Relational data and the construction of archaeological networks. – JAS, 40: 7, 3001–3010.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.03.014
Peeples, M. A., Mills, B. J., Haas, W. R., Clark, J. J. & Roberts, J. M. 2016. Analytical challenges for the application of social network analysis in archaeology. – The Connected Past. Challenges to Network Studies in Archaeology and History. Eds T. Brughmans, A. Collar & F. Coward. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 59–84.
Sawicka, L. & Grižas, G. 2007. Mogila Wielkoludów... Szwedow czy konfederatów. Cmentarzysko kurhanowe w Pakalniszkach (północna Litwa) w świetle badań Marii Butrymówny w 1897 roku. – Wiadomości Archeologiczne, 59, 165–202.
Schmiedehelm, M. 1923. Beiträge zu der sogenannten gotischen Frage im Baltikum. – Sitzungsberichte der Gelehrten Estnischen Gesellschaft, 1922, 76–108.
Simniškytė, A. 2002. Roman period metal half-moon shaped pendants with knobs in Eastern Baltic Region. – AB, 5, 95–122.
Swift, E. 2000. Regionality in Dress Accessories in the Late Roman West. Editions Monique Mergoil, Montagnac.
Valk, H., Kivirüüt, A., Rammo, R., Ots, M. & Ratas, J. 2018. Archaeological investigations on Ala-Kõrtsi cemetery in Urvaste parish centre in Võrumaa. – AVE, 2017, 97–110.
Vasks 2001 in LSV = Apals, J., Atgāzis, M., Graudonis, J., Loze, I., Mugurēvičs, Ē., Vasks, A. & Zagorska, I. Latvijas senākā vēsture. Latvijas Vēstures Institūta apgāds, Riga.
Vasks, A. 2006. Stone grave cemeteries in western Latvia. – Etnos ja kultuur. Uurimusi Silvia Laulu auks. Ed. H. Valk. (MT, 18.) Tartu, Tallinn, 99–111.
Vassar, A. 1943. Nurmsi kivikalme Eestis ja tarandkalmete areng. (Unpublished PhD thesis.) Manuscript in the University of Tartu Library.
Veldi, M. 2006. Keskustest ja kommunikatsioonist Kagu- ja Ida-Eestis rauaaja esimesel poolel. – Etnos ja kultuur. Uurimusi Silvia Laulu auks. Ed. H. Valk. (MT, 18.) Tartu, Tallinn, 79–97.
Yushkova, M. A. 2011. = Юшкова М. А. Эпоха бронзы и ранний железный век на Северо- Западе России. Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата исторических наук Санкт-Петербург. (Unpublished PhD thesis.) Copy of the manuscript in the library of Department of Archaeology at the University of Tartu.
